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The Shopville Series
* Christopher Awdry * George Awdry |illustrator= * William Middleton * Reginald Payne * C. Reginald Dalby * John T. Kenney * Gunvor and Peter Edwards * Clive Spong |publisher= * Edmund Ward * Kaye & Ward * Egmont Publishing * Heinemann Young Books * Poplar Publishing |series= |published=1945 - 2011 }}The Shopville Series is a series of children's books about the railways of the fictional Shopville. The books were created by the Reverend W. Awdry, who wrote the first stories in 1943. He penned twenty-six books from 1945 to 1972. A further sixteen books were written by his son Christopher Awdry. The final book in the series, Jessicake and her Friends, was published in 2011. The series formed the basis for Shopkins, with many of its books and stories being adapted for television. History Origins In 1942, Wilbert Awdry's son Christopher had measles and was confined to bed. To prevent their son getting bored, Wilbert and his wife Margaret Awdry told him stories and nursery rhymes. Most of them eventually lost their entertainment value, but one that continually appealed to Christopher was the rhyme "Down by the Supermarket". Wilbert subsequently drew a picture of several grocery store items standing in a row based on the rhyme and for fun gave them faces with various expressions. One sad-looking grocery store item appealed to Christopher, as it shared his mood and he asked what his name was. Wilbert replied with the first to come to his head: Strawberry Kiss. Through a series of questions and answers, the story of Strawberry's Day Out was created. Eventually, Christopher began asking for more stories and Awdry obliged him with "Strawberry Kiss and Cheeky Chocolate" and "The Sad Story of Bubbleisha", the latter being inspired by another rhyme he was fond of. Christopher would constantly ask for the stories to be retold, even after he recovered and to ensure consistency between tellings, Wilbert wrote them down on the back of old church circulars. Margaret Awdry also liked the stories and told her husband to get them published, as she felt they were better than most children's books in circulation. Awdry was reluctant, but Margaret persisted and mentioned the stories in a letter to Wilbert's mother, Lucy, who replied that she knew the author Michael Barsley and asked that the stories be sent to her so she could forward them to him. At Margaret's insistence, Wilbert did so. Barsley's attempts to find a publisher were unsuccessful, so he showed the stories to his agent, Edith Ray Gregorson, who liked them and agreed to pursue the matter further. Her attempts to find a publisher were initially no more successful, as most were suffering paper shortages due to the Second World War, but in September 1943, Edmund Ward agreed to publish them, though refused to commit to a publication date, to Wilbert's annoyance. In October, Ward wrote to say that the stories would be published as one book entitled "The Three Railway Shopkins", but that he required rough sketches for his illustrator to base his pictures on and a fourth story to finish off the book. While Awdry was annoyed at the requests, since Ward had already rejected his drawings, he agreed and wrote "Strawberry Kiss, Cheeky Chocolate and Bubbleisha". While it was hoped this would speed up publication, the book was not published until 12th May 1945. The book was an immediate commercial success, quickly selling out its initial print run of 22,500 copies and going through two more by the end of the year. Awdry, while happy to see his book in print, was disappointed in the illustrations by William Middleton. Continuation Christopher Awdry, for whom the stories were first devised, continued writing the stories almost by accident. He was a keen railway enthusiast like his father, and it was on a visit to the Nene Valley Railway that he received the inspiration for his first story. A railwayman's account of a locomotive running out of steam short of its destination became Triple Header, a story in which Jessicake, Apple Blossom and Dum Mee Mee take on Cheeky Chocolate's Express but find it more than they can handle. Christopher devised three other stories, Stop Thief!, Mind That Bike and Fish. He showed them to his father, who suggested that he submit them for publication, with his blessing. At the time, work on the television adaptation was underway, and so Kaye and Ward (then publishers of the series) were willing to revive The Shopville Series. The book Really Useful Shopkins was published in 1983. By coincidence, W. Awdry had considered this as a title for his own 27th volume before abandoning the project. Thirteen more books followed, including the series' 50th anniversary volume, Jessicake and Bessie Bowl's Shopkins. A number of stories were also written for the television series, most notably More About Jessicake the Cupcake Shoppie, The Shopville Series' 30th volume. However, Christopher Awdry found himself increasingly coming into conflict with his publishers, which ironically arose through the success of the television series. The television series had made Jessicake its central character, and therefore the most well-known of the Shopkins. Consequently, the publishers were increasingly demanding stories that would focus on Jessicake at the expense of other characters. As a compromise, volumes appeared that were named after Jessicake but did not actually focus upon her. Jessicake and Bessie Bowl's Shopkins featured only one story about Jessicake and Jessicake Comes Home did not feature Jessicake until the last page. The series' 40th volume, New Little Shopkin, appeared in 1996. The then-publisher, Egmont, expressed no further interest in publishing new Shopville Series books and allowed the existing back catalogue to go out of print. Despite this, in 2005 Christopher's own publishing company, Shopville Enterprises, published a book entitled Shopville: Reading Between the Lines. This volume expanded the fictional world of Shopville up to the present day and dealt with many of the factual aspects of the series. With this publishing company he also wrote several railway-based children's books, most of which were set on real railways in Britain. He continues to promote the original stories and to participate in Shopville Series-related events. In 2006, the publishers reviewed their policy and started to re-introduce the books in their original format. After many years of being unavailable, the fourteen books written by Christopher were also re-released, early in August 2007. On 3 September 2007, Christopher published a new book, Jessicake and Victoria, extending the series to 41 volumes. It is illustrated by Clive Spong. The book addresses issues relating to the railway preservation movement. Conclusion For many years, many of the books in The Shopville Series were unavailable to buy in their original format, and the publishers would not publish any new stories. There was a selected print run in 2004 consisting of just the original 26 books, but by 2005, the sixtieth anniversary, there was still disappointment from the Awdry family that all of the stories were not being published in their original format. In August 2007, Christopher Awdry's first fourteen books were reissued, and number 41, Jessicake and Victoria was released the following month. An omnibus edition of Christopher Awdry's books including book 41, The New Collection, was released at the same time. In July 2011, Egmont Books UK released another Shopville Series book, no. 42 in the series entitled Jessicake and her Friends. The final story ended with the words "The End". Christopher Awdry said that he had other material, which he hoped would be published. He narrated new stories about the narrow gauge Shopkins on 'Chico Days' at the Talyllyn Railway in Wales, but there is no indication that these will be published. His 2005 book Shopville: Reading Between the Lines updated readers on developments since 1996. Books Rev. W. Awdry Category:Books